The Effectiveness of Art Therapy Program on Preventing and Slowing the Progression of Dementia among Older Adult

Abstract

Objective: Dementia is a condition which the cognitive and intellectual functions deteriorate and often occur in the elderly. There was a few research which apply art therapy for delay dementia progression. Thus the purpose of this quasi-experiment study with quasi-experiment design was to determine the effectiveness of art therapy for the elderly to improve MMSE scores in order to delay dementia. Methods: The study was conducted in Chalerm Rajakumari Elderly Home (Luang Pho Pern) by applying a brain test (The Mini Mental Status Examination Thai 2002: Thai MMSE 2002) before and after receiving 4 times of art therapy. Thirty-five participants enrolled this study by using statistic sample size for matched sample continuous outcome. Paired-t-test was utilized for comparing MMSE scores before and after using art therapy. Results: The results showed that MMSE score of the elderly after joining the activity increase by 3.29 (1.70-4.86) with p-value <.001.  This means that after the elderly got the art therapy program, they had higher level of the cognitive and intellectual functions than previous. Conclusions: The art therapy program effectively raised MMSE score of elderly. Their mental and physical health were healed and recovered preventing them far from dementia. Therefore art therapy should be one main activity to prevent or slow progression of dementia under elderly care policy of government.